Nazi salute

The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute,^[a] or the Sieg Heil salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened hand. Usually, the person offering the salute would say "Heil Hitler!" ('Hail Hitler!'),^[b] "Heil, mein Führer!" ('Hail, my leader!'), or "Sieg Heil!" ('Hail victory!'). It was officially adopted by the Nazi Party in 1926, although it had been used within the party as early as 1921,^[4] to signal obedience to the party's leader, Adolf Hitler, and to glorify the German nation (and later the German war effort). The salute was mandatory for civilians^[5] but mostly optional for military personnel, who retained a traditional military salute until the failed assassination attempt on Hitler^[6] on 20 July 1944.

Use of this salute is illegal in modern-day Germany (Strafgesetzbuch section 86a), Austria and Slovakia.^[7] The use of any Nazi phrases associated with the salute is also forbidden.^[8] In Italy, it is a criminal offence only if used with the intent to "reinstate the defunct National Fascist Party", or to exalt or promote its ideology or members.^[9] In Canada and most of Europe (including the Czech Republic,^[10] France, the Netherlands, Sweden,^[7] Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Russia), displaying the salute is not in itself a criminal offence, but constitutes hate speech if used for propagating the Nazi ideology.^[11]^[12]^[7] Publicly performing the salute is also illegal in Australia under Commonwealth law unless for a religious, academic, educational, artistic, literary or scientific purpose.^[13]

In a in Hogan's Heroes, Colonel Klink often forgets to give the Hitler salute at the end of a phone call; instead, he usually asks, "What's that?" and then says, "Yes, of course, Heil Hitler".^[116] In the German-language version of the show, called Ein Käfig voller Helden (A Cage Full of Heroes), Col. Klink and Sgt. Schultz have rural Gomer Pyle-type accents, and stiff-armed salutes are accompanied by such witticisms as: "this is how high the cornflowers grow".^[117] The "Heil Hitler" greeting was the variant most often used and associated with the series; "Sieg Heil" was rarely heard.

running gag

A related gesture was used by the fictional Nazi-affiliated organization from Marvel Comics, with both arms outstretched, clenched fists and the phrase "Hail Hydra" uttered by members of the organization.^[118]

Hydra

On the American animated TV sitcom , a "Cheesie Charlie's" worker dressed up as a devil welcomed both Peter and Chris to the "dungeon", who performs the Nazi salute shortly after welcoming the two characters (Season 1, Episode 3, "Chitty Chitty Death Bang", first broadcast: April 18, 1999). In another episode, a previously-appearing unnamed character, Quahog's town librarian, is drafted by a committee of townspeople to run for mayor. None of them knows her name, and she introduces herself as "Elle Hitler" ("no relation," she says), and they all stand, extend their arms to salute her with their drinks, and say "Hi, Elle Hitler!" (Season 19, Episode 7, "Wild Wild West", first broadcast: November 22, 2020).

Family Guy

Allert, Tilman (2009). The Hitler Salute: On the Meaning of a Gesture. Translated by Jefferson Chase. Picador. 9780312428303.

ISBN

(1999). Hitler, 1889–1936: Hubris. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-04671-0.

Kershaw, Ian

(2000). Hitler, 1936–45: Nemesis. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393049947.

Kershaw, Ian

(2001). The "Hitler Myth": Image and Reality in the Third Reich (2, reissue ed.). London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192802064.

Kershaw, Ian

Winkler, Martin M. (2009). The Roman Salute: Cinema, History, Ideology. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. 9780814208649.

ISBN

Informational notes

Citations

Bibliography

Media related to Nazi salutes at Wikimedia Commons